William w



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

w. W..-HOPKINS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

(No Model.)

No. 379,069. Patented Mar. 8, 1888.

N. PETERS. Plwko-Lilhomphar. Washington. 985.

(No Modl.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. W. HOPKINS.

I ELEGTRIG RAILWAY. 3791169- Patented Mar. 6, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. HOPKINS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ON E-HALF TO IRVING MOGOWAN, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Na -379,069, dated March 6, 1888. Application filed January 27, 1887. Serial No. 225,675. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to electric locomotion, and particularly to that class of electric railways in which a constant current is supplied by an external-generator to a conductor independent of the track-rails, which current is diverted to an electromotor upon a car or train by breaking main current at proper points. I

The construction may be generally described as follows: If the railway is a surface road,the conductor is carried in a conduit below the road-bed having a continuous slot. The conductor is composed of short sections of insulated wire, such sections being connected by spring-contacts arranged in pairs, so that normally the circuit is uninterrupted throughout the line. These contacts are broken successively by a circuit-breaker carried by a car, or by each car ofa train, in order to switch the current to an electromotor on such car, and thus drive the car by successive impulses as each contact is broken. The circuit-breaker carried by the car may be also provided with special means, in the nature of an automatic s'witch,to prevent the electromotor from being short-circuited by the simultaneous breaking of the main circuit at two points, and I have also provided special automatic means for protecting the mechanism from injury from 0 rain, mud, dust, Ste.

The special construction will now be fully described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is alongitudinal section of the tun- 5 nel or tubular conduit beneath the road-bed, and includes also a sectional view of a part of a railway-car. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the supports for the conductors and the devices for switching the current to a car in transit. is a perspective view of the automatic shield or protector. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the circuit-breaker carried by the car. Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the automatic switch.

My invention is applicable either'to surface or elevated railways, but I have shown it in the drawings in connection with the former.

The railway-rails A A are of the ordinary construction, and below the road-bed is a continuous tunnel or conduit,B, to carry and protect the conductors, the conduit having a narrow slot or opening at the top throughout its whole extent.

- Within the conduit and placed at regular intervals (of, say, twenty feet) are cross-pieces O, on each of which are mounted two insulated brass pillars, c 0'. Each of these pillars carries a spring, 0 0 the free ends of each pair of which are normally in contact, and are held there by the elasticity of the springs. The conductor d, instead of being a solid rail or a continuous metallic plate, as usual, is composed of sections of ordinary insulated wire. The wire passes from one of the pillars, c, to the opposite pillar, c, on the next cross-piece, Fig. 2, the circuit being kept closed through the spring-arms, so that the current is coutinuous throughout the line, except when purposely interrupted. The means for supplying the current may be a dynamo-machine or any other externally-placed generator located at a point or points on the line.

Having thus established a regular and uniform current throughout the extent of the railway-line, it is necessary to provide means for 8 5 breaking the circuit at proper points and diverting the current ,to a motor carried by a car or truck running on the track-rails. The devices for accomplishing this are shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 5. 0

E represents a railway-car on the track, and F is any suitable form of electromotor carried thereby, with its revolving shaft connected to the axle of the wheels 6 by any suitable kind of gearing.

G G are two vertical arms secured to the car-floor, which extend down and into the conduit below the track and support at their Fig. 3is a cross-section. f Fig. 4 50 a lower end and on opposite sides two longitudinal bars, H H, which are insulated from each other and their supports, as shown at h. The bars H H are of slightly greater length than each section of conducting-wire,in order that as the car moves and the bars pass through and break the circuit between two of the stationary spring-arms they will still be in circuit between the preceding pairof springs for an instant. The current passing through the spring-contacts shown, for instance, in Fig. 2 will thus be diverted from spring 0 to the conducting-arm H in Fig. 5, from which it is carried by wire h,Fig. 3, to the motor, to operate the latter. The current leaves the motor by the wire h, which is connected to the opposite bar, H, thelatter coming next in contact with the spring 0 on the neXt cross-bar. The moving car is thus made a part of an uninterrupted circuit, while it receives a new impulse as the main circuit is broken at each contact, so that each car in the train may be provided with an electromotor, and all will be simultaneously receiving impulses as each contact is broken. Each impulse causes the car to travel the length of the conducting-bar, and as before leaving the spring-arms the said bar comes in contact with the next pair of arms it is evident that the car will obtain a continuous motion.

To prevent the possibility of short-circuiting the motor by the simultaneous contact of the bars H H with two pairs of spring-arms, I have devised a mechanical means for switching the current from one end of such bars to the other, as will be now explained, reference being made to Fig. 1.

The description heretofore given of the conducting-bars H H supposed them to be continuous. In Fig. 1, however, I have shown each of the bars as supported at both ends and as separated in the middle, so that the current cannot pass.

I is an are insulated upon two of the pins 1' 2', which connect the parallel bars, and J is a swinging switch or contact arm pivoted on such are and adapted to make contact with either pair of bars. The conducting-wire h to the motor is connected to the arm J.

Kis an elbow or bell-crank lever pivoted between the parallel bars H H near their forward end, and connected by a rod, k, to the arm J. A roller, Z, or similar device is carried by the main cross-piece G or by the pillars c c, Fig. 2, which is brought by the movement of the car in contact with the lever K. This causes the arm J to assume the position (1) shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and-in con tact with the forward pair of bars on the car. The motor will now have a continuous current until the arm J commences to pass between the next pair of spring-arms, when it will strike a stud, c, Fig. 6, on one of the springarms 0" c and be forced back to the position (2) shown in dot-ted lines in same figure, which will switch the current onto the rearward section of the parallel bars. This method of mechanically switching the current from one end of the conducting-bars to the other effectually prevents the short-circuiting of the motor, while at the same time it permits such bars to remain in contact with the spring-arms a little longer, and thus gives a slight margin for inequalities in the lengths of the different sections or of the cars.

In order to protect the mechanism at each cross-bar from rain, mud, dust, &c., which would otherwise find lodgment in the conduit through the slot therein, I have devised an automatic shield or cover, which is illustrated in Fig. 4.

Standards M M are secured to each of the cross-pieces 0 within the conduit, upon which are hinged two oval-shaped shields, N N, which from their weight are normally in contact, and are made to fit together as perfectly as possible. These shields yield to the passage of the circuit-breaker, and are raised sufficiently to let the bars through, dropping to their former position after the car has passed, and forming an efficientprotection to the parts covered by them.

It will of course be understood that the construction of the current-carrying devices and their location and arrangement are shown as applicable to a surface railway. When used with an elevated electric railway, the absence of the conduit would necessitate some changes in the manner of supporting the wires and connection on the road bed or structure. Any such changes I regard as within the spirit of my invention.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. In an electric railway having a conductor composed of sections having at each of their ends a pair of circuit-closers normally in contact, a divided circuit-breaker longer than the conductor sections connected to an electromotor on a moving body and having an automatic switch adapted to make contact successively with the two divisions of the circuitbreaker, substantially as described.

2. In a railway having a sectional conductor provided with a series of circuit-closers,

substantially as described, and in combination with a car having an electromotor, a divided circuit-breaker longer than the conductor-sections carried by such car, a switch at the point of division in electrical connection with the motor, and means located at the end of each section of the conductor for placing the switch in contact successively with each division of the circuit-breaker, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric railway having a sectional conductor the sections of which are connected by circuit-closers arranged in pairs, the eombination,with each pair of circuit-closers, of a hinged shield or protector adapted to be displaced by the passage of a car on the track and to automatically resume its normal position, substantially as described.

4. In an electric railway havinga sectional their normal position, substantially as decondnctor the sections of which are connected scribed. I by circuit-closers arranged in pairs, the com- In testimony whereof I have affixed my sigbination, with each pair of circuit-closers, of nature in presence of two witnesses.

5 a shield or protector composed of two sepa- WILLIAM W. HOPKINS.

rately-hinged plates normally in contact and Witnesses: adapted to be separated by the passage of a J. P. DUNCAN,

car, and then by their own weight to resume IRVING MOGOWAN. 

